Saturday 30 October 2021 University Church

Bizarrium!

English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble

We end the month of October with Bizarrium!, a vibrant, loud and exciting exploration of a ‘cabinet of curiosities’. During the 16th and 17th centuries composers enjoyed writing pieces that would surprise, baffle and delight both audiences and musicians. This programme is full of twists and turns, featuring birdsong, stormy weather, echoes, chromaticism, a sonata that never cadences and an In nomine in which the musicians are (deliberately!) out of time. All you can expect from this programme is the unexpected.

Performed on an array of sackbuts, cornetts, dulcian, keyboards and even the violin, the eight expert musicians of the renowned English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble (ECSE) return to Music at Oxford after their concert was postponed in 2020 to guide us through their carefully curated ‘musical miscellany of the strange and beautiful’.

‘The playing of the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble is dazzling’
The Arts Desk

‘The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble bring the music alive. They contribute superb technical skill and play with an involving sense of engagement’
Planet Hugill

Concert Format
ECSE will perform two 1 hour concerts with a gap in between to allow for staff to ventilate and clean the venue before the second concert. Please note that audiences will be socially distanced and other Covid-19 precautions will be in place. We politely ask all audience members to wear a mask whilst in the venue, unless you are exempt. To find out more, please see our Covid-19 Health and Safety Information.

Useful Links
www.ecse.co.uk
ECSE on YouTube